Skullcandy Presents The TransAm at Mountain Creek FULL RECAP

I had the foresight to prepare for the TransWorld Snowboarding TransAm presented by Skullcandy in Mountain Creek, New Jersey, by taking a week of vacation in Pennsylvania to rest, prepare, and watch numerous episodes of Jersey Shore to wrap my head around what could possibly be the heaviest stop of the tour. My flight into Newark, New Jersey, ended with the typical flight crew announcement thanking the passengers for flying with Southwest airlines. The exception and red flag raiser with this announcement was that the Orlando-based flight crew laughed as they welcomed the passengers to “beautiful” Newark. I should have known better after noting the humor in the flight attendant’s voice and I should have also refrained from answering the large Italian looking fellow’s question of where the hell we were headed with those ski bags. As I waited for our rental car I couldn’t help but give him a quick answer of “Mountain Creek” as he looked at us in disbelief and shrugged his shoulders.

The day before the contest was blue bird and beckoning the tour crew to go ride before the contest day. Sure this could have been just like any other day, but we got off the lift in South Mountain Creek to another eye-opening scene. As we were strapping in I heard Tribe Called Quest pumping louder and louder. I looked up to find a regular Creek local with a boom box on his shoulder—no gloves or googles—and smoking cigarettes like it was his last day on earth. He looked back at me and yelled, “I friggin’ love Tribe, man.” Strapping in, I knew I had to follow him down the hill. I really shouldn’t have been surprised at all considering the last time the TransAm was at Mountain Creek, it was the biggest turnout of any stop with close to 200 kids competing and one of the features was a real TransAm with a guy rocking a mullet yelling at the kids not to scratch his car. So Jersey.

It puked snow all night before the contest day and covered the mountain in the freshest accumulation they had in months. It was a resort in serious need considering most of their snow up to this point was man-made. It threw a wrench into the works as most of the kids had to charge to hold speed into all the features or they would come up short and get punched in the face, worse than Snookie on a Saturday night. Luci Imbach found out firsthand as she did just that, and walked away with a blackened eye and the Best Crash Award. Matt Behre, on the other hand, had something for every feature in the whole mini park as he rocked his way into first place tearing apart the High Cascade Snowboard Camp Mini Pipe. With hair much like that of the frontman of ’80s hair band, Quiet Riot, he took so many lines through the HCSC pipe, not just entering off the pole jams on either wall but refusing to hit the boxed coping on either side of the pipe without style and reckless abandon. He would finish many of his runs on that side of the park with such hot handplants above the Anon box setup into a quarterpipe that it made Pauly D’s hair stand on end. The Anon box was set up so that riders could ride up, in, and redirect out into the quarterpipe or choose to air out of the quarter and ride down the box. Miles Fallon was not afraid to fist pump down to the Ride Snowboards smoking barrel setup, dodging grenades on his way through the course to bonk the barrels and earn himself the Pint-Sized Ripper Award. It’s perfect for Muscle Milk to be a part of this tour and especially this stop in New Jersey where their feature was a rhythm section called the Muscle Milk Six Pack. It had juiceheads like Scott Hopper pumping through the section and lifting the second-place prize pack above his head after he earned a podium finish.

Lauren Longfield hit big screen TV creeper with her own version of TransAm drama at the Zumiez Couch feature. She creeped so hard on the TV that it smashed into pieces and made way for Brandon Schmidt to double backflip over the Zumiez orange couch and win the Zumiez Best Trick Award worth 1,000 dollars. Alexa Cerra called the cab for the rest of the riders to go home as she danced across the Skullcandy Sound Tube setup into an iced-out spine landing. The Giro Helmet rainbow rail was also a popular option at the top end of the park giving riders a chance to showcase their talents and protect their newly razored fade or gelled up blowout hair with a custom TransAm Giro Helmet. The Coal Headwear Twin Beanie feature gave most of the kids a chance to butter up or tail block smoosh room style. All in all, the riding was as dirty as the State and the over-produced MTV show.